Individual Self-Reflection on HR Skills: Recruitment Interviewing and Negotiation

Assessment Instructions

This is a 1,500 words individual self-reflection based upon the two HR skills covered on the module. Students are required to reflect upon their performance in the practical activities. They must cover both topics in the depth. This would suggest an equal word split between the two skills. It is advised that students identify one or two behaviours or actions for each topic. This allows students to comprehensively analyse the behaviours/actions and make suggestions as to how to improve in the future.

Following the skills study units on recruitment interviewing and negotiation skills, reflect upon your learning from the skills-building activities, the feedback you received from peers and tutors, and the relevant literature to answer the following questions:

• Critically evaluate the development of your skills in selection interviewing and bargaining and negotiation, identifying areas of strength, areas for development, and appropriate means for meeting your development needs
• Discuss how underpinning theory will influence your practice Assessment criteria for
• Demonstrates critical reflection on the learning acquired during the skills-building study units of the module, including feedback from tutors and peers, and identifies the significance of reflection for personal development
• Critically evaluates and applies relevant theoretical concepts and knowledge to the development of skills
• Identifies areas for future skills development and considers how this could be achieved • The work is clearly structured, well written, concise and coherent

• Evidence understanding of the topic and key theories
• Demonstrates critical appreciation of relevant theory and empirical research
• Draw from relevant, academic sources to support answers
• Demonstrates ability to critically evaluate and reflect • Relevant steps for future improvement are developed
• Sources should be cited and referenced using the Harvard system

• Reflection on both HR skills
• Ability to critically reflect
• Ability to use theory and literature to add critical evaluation into the reflection
• Understanding of both topics

Define critical self-reflection: Briefly explain which interpretation of “critical self-reflection” is being used for this reflection.  Use academic language/style and refer to the literature.

• Self-conscious consideration which can lead people to a deeper understanding of themselves and others…and foster a profound awareness of how social contexts influence who people are and how they behave (Gay and Kirkland, 2003).
• Reflection-on-action and reflection-in-action (Schön, 1991); reflection-in-action is concerned with practicing critically. E.g. physiotherapy working with a client on an exercise programme is making decisions about the suitability of particular exercises; reflection-on-action occurs after the activity has taken place when you are thinking about what you (and others) did, judging how successful you were and whether changes to what you did could have resulted in different outcomes (we are interested in your reflection-on-action).

Explain the chosen skill areas for reflection: Briefly explain the skill area which is being reflected upon (recruitment skills and negotiation skills).  Use academic language/style. 

Explain the purpose of this critical self-reflection: Briefly explain your own purpose (e.g. continuous professional development).

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle was developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 to give structure to learning from experiences.  It offers a framework for examining experiences, and given its cyclic nature lends itself particularly well to repeated experiences, allowing you to learn and plan from things that either went well or didn’t go well. It covers 6 stages:

1. Description of the experience
2. Feelings and thoughts about the experience
3. Evaluation of the experience, both good and bad
4. Analysis to make sense of the situation
5. Conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently
6. Action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future, or general changes you might find appropriate What? So what? Now what?

Driscoll (1994) developed this model of reflection based on the three simple questions – What? So what? Now what? – originally asked by Borton (1970). The model provides one of the simplest frameworks for reflection. In practice you should ask yourself the three questions after a critical incident that has taken place and you want to extract learning from.

1. 'What?' helps you describe the situation you want to learn from. You should identify the facts and feelings of the situation
2. 'So What?' allows you to extract the meaning of 'What?'. Moreover, you should question what knowledge you and others had in the situation, and what knowledge or theories that could help you make sense of the situation
3. 'Now what?' allows you to create an action plan for the future based on the previous questions

This framework developed by Bain et al. (2002), focuses on five core stages, each addressing one aspect of reflection. By thinking about all 5 stages individually you will engage with all the essential components of reflection, enabling you to produce a critically engaged reflection based in your experience. This model can also be helpful for structuring reflective writing.

1. Reporting of the context of the experience
2. Responding to the experience (observations, feelings, thoughts, etc.)
3. Relating the experience to knowledge and skills you already have
4. Reasoning about the significant factors/theory to explain the experience
5. Reconstructing your practice by planning future actions for a similar experience

The integrated reflective cycle (Bassot, 2013) is a model of reflection which will guide you through four steps to make sense of and learn from an experience. The model will allow you to explore feelings, assumptions and your own professional practice.

1. The Experience: Describe the experience
2. Reflection on Action: Look at the experience and identify what went well and what could be improved. It is here you explore your thoughts, feelings, and assumptions and ask yourself why
3. Theory: Think about the experience in larger context of professional literature and your own learning and personal experience

This framework is designed by Greenaway (2015), an expert on training teachers and facilitators.  By working through the four levels of this model, you will have critically examined the situation you want to review and reflect upon, while thinking about how to use what you have learned in the future.

1. Facts: An objective account of what happened
2. Feelings: The emotional reactions to the situation
3. Findings: The concrete learning that you can take away from the situation
4. Future: Structuring your learning such that you can use it in the future
5. Preparation: Using your reflection to prepare yourself for future experiences